Tracing Steps
by ArcheryGirl1101
Summary: After an argument John storms out and doesn't return


**Tracing Steps:**

Sherlock's Homeless Network did work in odd ways, Sherlock literally bribed them for information to feed their addiction and his prior one, all for valuable information.

John kept Sherlock clean of all substances, bar adrenaline because both were addicted to that and it couldn't be helped in their field of work, Sherlock just wished he wasn't using them to find a missing John.

Three weeks had past and his faithful Blogger and Best friend was still missing since a heated argument, storming outs and then a meeting with Mycroft explaining his dear Doctor had vanished.

"Three weeks, four days, eight hours, twenty-two minutes and forty-eight seconds and counting" Sherlock announced to Lestrade as he burst through 221B "Sherlock?" The raven haired man was pacing "Twenty-three minutes" "Sherlock!" Snapping the younger out of his trance the DI passed him a baise folder "Here, that's all the information I have. It's not much but you'll surely figure it out" Going through the whopping _Three pages_ of evidence Sherlock's nerves were adjusted knowning John was alive but still missing God knows where "Anything?" "He's alive. Injured and could possibly be-" A text alert interrupted him though he didn't want to finish his sentence, Lyna, a newer line in his network sent a text explaining she found something in some of the worser known areas of London.

Sherlock forgot Lestrade was even there, having the elder man chase him from 221B and down numorous streets, The DI lost Sherlock after several narrow turns and leaping of high fences Greg knew he couldn't keep up, so enabled Sherlock's GPS tracker.

* * *

John hadn't a clue where he was, honestly the last thing he remembered was shouting at Sherlock. The Doctor had enough self-awareness to know that wasn't yesterday.

John could only move so much with a damaged kneecap and a twisted ankle, not exactly survival condidtions, he lost his good coat some time ago so his worn black and white stripey jumper was the only thing keeping his barely warm, his jeans were thin and his trainers were on their last few wears, not to mention his entire body and clothes were damp.

He had lost substantial weight given no nutrition and hydration for over three weeks. The swelling of his bloodied and bruised face hadn't gone down much since his attack, he hadn't done anything wrong, he was staggering in a direction he hoped was Baker Street and was jumped - Again. That was the reason he was in this mess, an argument that was barely remembered now lead him to storm out for some air so his didn't throttle his best friend, he lost track of where he was going and ended up too far from Baker Street to be comfortable, no gun, phone or wallet was on him so he was aimlessly trying to get back before he was rudely shoved into a wall then beaten, abandoned and left unconscious. It was an attempted mugging, but the usual kind man had nothing on him for the taking, except his coat with had the sum total of £2.57 in loose change.

Having nothing else to do John lost himself into sleep, not that it lasted long as any noise would cause the Doctor to jump depsite the exhaustion. Carefully pushing himself against the wall John lulled himself into a black out. Missing the tumbling of bins next to him and hands grasping and shaking his shoulders hard.

* * *

Sherlock dashed to find Lyna, she produced John's coat that she managed to recover, it was soaked from the heavy rain two days ago. It was explained who had mugged John and what had happened afterwards, there was one string of the network that was around the corner from John that spotted him and set the word out but unfortunately it took far to long to send word out.

Finding Albert taking up precious hours he motioned around the corner to find the almost unrecognisable John Watson leaning against the wall and injured "Oh God. John? John, can you here me?" Sherlock gripped John's shoulders nearly screaming at how thin the man had become in such a short amount of time, Sherlock threw off his Belstaff and wrapped it around his best friend hoping to generate heat "Please. John, wake up. I'm not having you being dead on my watch" No repsonse came "I'll go back to drugs" Nothing "I'll kill whoever did this to you" Silence "John I'll tell everyone your middle name and make it public for the world to know" "Don't you dare..." Gasping for air Sherock hugged John, pulling him onto his lap to keep his as comfortable as possible.

"You weren't specific John" Sherlock teased, trying his hardest not to seem panicked to John's injuries and swelled up face "Any... of it" "John, you need to stay alert. If you are lose consciousness I-" "Sherlock?" The familiar voice of Gavin came through "Geoff, over here" "It's Greg..." John's head lulled against Sherlock chest, staining the white shirt with speckles of blood before the good Doctor blacked out again.

* * *

This time John awoke in a dimly lit hospital room, a dark lump was lying on top of him. John could feel a weight on his chest and a warm hand holding his own, "Go back to sleep, John" Sherlock sleepily ordered "You too" Closing his eyes again John properly awoke in the morning. Fuzziness in cased his vision, Sherlock was still there by his side, looking as if he hadn't moved in days, thinking about it, John wasn't even sure how long he'd been in hospital "Hey" John gave a goofy smile towards Sherlock, "John" "Yeah?" Sherlock didn't say a word and unraveled his stick arms over John's body, locking him in a hug "Don't ever scare me like that again. You were asleep for nine days, ten hours-" "Sherlock," John interrupted, "Have you eaten or slept at all "A little, yesterday Lestrade blended food and gave me a disgusting smoothy" "What about sleep?" "Minimum but I past out two days ago, no-one moved me and last night you and I woke up together" "Can you get me a drink, please?" John was losing his voice asking the question, Sherlock wasn't even gone ten seconds before returning "Thanks," John carefully sipped on his plastic cup of water.

"If it's worth anything, I'm sorry" "What for?" John wasn't sure why Sherlock was apologising "Our argument," "Truth be told I forgot about that, there's no apology needed from you, sorry I disappeared on you. Swear that wasn't intentional" Nodding Sherlock twiddled with his hands, "I tried to find you" "You did," "Yes but before then! Once I heard you were attacked I tried everywhere I could think of!" "Calm down, it's alright now" "It's not. You're going to need your cane again until your leg heals and right now you're thinner than me, that isn't a good thing" Sighing John just stared at his friend, "Does this mean you'll be eating more" "You will be eating, I am keeping an eye on you" "They'll let me out by tomorrow at best. Go home, freshen up and come back by 09:00AM tomorrow" "Why?" "Because you stink, you have severe stubble and I think you've warped that chair. I can cope today because I'll be asleep, then I'll be given a diet and exercise plan to regain my weight and lost muscle then once back to myself again you and I will be running around London as if nothing happened" Sherlock wanted to protest but Mycroft cleared his throat to postpone any childish acts, "Here, this was given to me right before I found you, it's been cleaned and I placed some gloves in the pockets, I'll be back tomorrow" John accepted his coat, Sherlock placed it over him like a second blanket and left the room "Bye," "Afternoon, John"

* * *

While dozing through the day John's phone, which was staying in his hand all day, flooding full of texts from Sherlock,

 _'John. I am so sorry. SH' 15:23PM_

 _'Please forgive me for leaving you in that alley and again in the hospital, but you did say to go. I still feel guilty. SH' 16:29PM_

 _'Bored. SH' 17:01PM_

 _'So Bored. SH' 17:05PM_

 _'Mycroft is annoying me. SH' 18:16PM_

 _'I "freshened up" as the saying goes, I prefer to be clean shavin'. SH' 18:45PM_

 _'Mrs Hudson yelled at me, I shot the wall. SH' 19:48PM_

 _'It feels too lonely without my Blogger by my side. SH' 20:06PM_

 _'It reminds me of you not being here. SH' 20:08PM_

 _Please reply. SH' 21:09PM_

 _'John. SH' 21:26PM_

 _'Please. SH' 21:32PM_

 _'I never beg. SH' 21:45PM_

 _'See what you're doing to me. SH' 22:00PM_

 _'Sentiment, John, what do I do? SH' 22:21PM_

 _'How do I deal with guilt, John? SH' 23:00PM_

 _'By getting some sleep. Go to bed, Sherlock. Goodnight. JW' 23:12PM_

 _'Good, you're awake. SH' 23:13PM_

 _No. I'm asleep. JW' 23:15PM_

 _'Evidence suggests otherwise. SH' 23:16PM_

 _'True. I've slept all day, I feel awake now, but I'm not wanting you to stay up. JW' 23:17PM_

 _'Yes Mother. John, you are my best friend, stop being a Mother-Hen. SH' 23:18PM_

 _'I can't help it. I'm a Watson, I always care for my Holmes. JW' 23:20PM_

 _'THAT CAME OUT WRONG. JW' 23:20PM_

 _'Please believe me! JW' 23:20PM_

 _'Please. JW' 23:20PM_

 _'Do calm down John. I understood what you meant. SH 23:23PM_

 _'Your selflessness is like my pride, we can't get rid of it. SH' 23:24PM_

 _'We wouldn't be the same without it. JW' 23:26PM_

 _'True. Goodnight John. SH' 23:30PM_

 _'Goodnight Sherlock. JW' 23:31PM_


End file.
